


Bedtime Stories

by Hermaline75



Series: Five Trope Tales [2]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Artists, Authors, Hand Jobs, Light Bondage, Loki Has Issues, M/M, Office Sex, Post-Break Up, extremely light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:23:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermaline75/pseuds/Hermaline75
Summary: Write a children's book kind of as a joke.Break up with the co-author.End up meeting again as they try to make a TV series out of it.What could possibly go wrong?





	Bedtime Stories

**Author's Note:**

> OK... So, turns out this game can force you into weird places.
> 
> This story's five tropes are:  
> 1\. Drill Mole (I'm???)  
> 2\. All Our Powers Combined  
> 3\. Black Speech (this means the kind of language the Orcs or the Dark Elves speak)  
> 4\. Knight Templar  
> 5\. Symbol Motif Clothes
> 
> Well, then. I could only think of one way to include all of these without completely going off the surrealism deep end, and also I have completely weaksauced them, which is not a verb, but anyway, let's go!

They were victims of their own success really. And maybe that's what stung about it. Because maybe if they hadn't hit it big, maybe things wouldn't have gone downhill...

Thor thought about that a lot. More than he should, probably.

He hadn't ever meant to be a children's author. It was never the plan. The plan had been journalism. But, well... That had been before Loki.

Loki had entered his life in a whirlwind. And while he hated to admit it, there had been a touch of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy about him. He was an artist and always had dirty nails, different colours of paint or clay trapped under them. He drank bright cocktails or the blackest stout depending on his mood. He liked to opine about the world as he lounged around in Thor's flat, smoking and naked. Strange and perfect and a little bit awful.

And one day he said, out of nowhere, that children's books were bullshit and even they could write a hit. It was easy, probably.

"What are you talking about?" Thor had asked, nuzzling into his neck. "Why have you been reading those?"

"It was raining and I hid in a bookshop. Had to do something to pass the time. I'm serious though. They're crap. It's all sheep trying to become horses but learning they're perfect just the way they are and pirates. So many about pirates. What is it about pirates that makes them suitable for the under-fives? They're floating, murdering thieves! You could write it, I could do the illustrations. It would be easy."

Usually, Loki forgot his weird ideas after a day or so, but this one was a sticker. For some reason, he had a real fixation and no amount of distraction ever really got it out of his head.

"It should have humanised animals as protagonists," he'd say, while Thor tried to clean around him. "Kids love that, and it's easy for them to see themselves."

"It has to have a message," while spraying his hair into perfect flicks. "About sharing or friendship. Or the environment. Parents love that. Edutainment."

"I want the villains to be scary," he mumbled while Thor tried to get his breath back after being practically pounded through the bed and _really, Loki, now? How can you even think?_

He never stood a chance. Loki wanted to write a kids' book, so write a kids' book they would.

"Who came up with the concept?" they'd be asked years later. But it was kind of both of them.

Oh, sure, Mo the Mole had been Thor's baby. And Loki had hated him at first.

"What the fuck kind of name is Mo?" he'd asked. "That's like a human being called Hu."

"Never met anyone called Hugh? I thought it could be short for something. Like Montague or Montgomery. Or Mohammed. He could be on a quest, burrowing into the ground for some reason..."

The plot had been mostly Loki, in terms of ideas. He came up with the villain, Melinda, who did not at first appear to be villainous and indeed sort of wasn't. She just believed she was right and wouldn't listen to other people. She wanted to expand the network of mole tunnels and sent Mo to go down (with his not at all natural tunneling drill machine) whereupon he met the shadow creatures with their gutteral speech and strange appearance, but who turned out to merely be protesting this incursion into their homes and not monstrous at all really. Just because he didn't understand at first didn't make them bad or wrong.

It had lessons about people being different and not judging by sight or even by hearing and a vague environmental nudge about not destroying habitats. And Thor added Melinda learning that, although she believed she had the right to tunnel wherever she wanted and held the high ground, it was important to think of others and their feelings. Redemption and a capacity for change were good ideas for children to learn about, he felt.

He wrote it, in rhyming couplets that took days to put together in a way he was happy with. Loki sketched out designs that ranged from beautifully detailed paintings to sweet and cartoon-like. It was difficult to choose a style, and even more difficult to suggest to Loki that maybe his drawings of the underground world didn't need quite so many creepy bugs...

It was never supposed to get published. When it got picked up, Thor felt like they'd ended up on a boat that they didn't know how to steer. But they had each other, at least. They were together when they got the good news, together when the first copies were printed, together drinking champagne with friends at the grand launch party - only online and in their local branch of one of the big bookshops, but still. They'd done it.

And it didn't hurt that they were a childless gay couple, students practically, who had written a childrens' book and were therefore unusual. They were invited onto the local radio station. Local TV news. Interviews and phone calls and positive reviews.

Maybe that was where it started going wrong.

"They love you," Loki had said pointedly, tossing a magazine down onto the coffee table in irritation.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that you're a perfect, sunshiny kids' TV presenter type and I'm like an evil goth coming to steal their children away."

"I'm sure it doesn't say that."

It didn't, of course. Not in so many words. But there was no mistaking the tone of certain questions. The quips about how _unusual_ Loki was, not at all the typical kids' author. And no amount of mentioning how grim fairytales were or the casual cruelty in most of Roald Dahl helped.

Of course, that just spurred interest. More reprints. More royalty money.

Thor tried not to let it change him. Tried not to let it change them. It was just something they'd done for fun, right? A nice little bit of spare income while it lasted.

Loki, on the other hand...

"Do you feel weird about it?" he asked in the middle of the night, waking Thor up.

"What?"

"That so many women think you'd be a great dad for their unborn children?"

"What are you talking about?"

And that was how he learned that when he couldn't sleep, Loki liked to go looking for reviews and discussion online. And yes, alright, so Thor had quite the following. Mainly women, bemoaning the fact that he'd never have kids of his own at this rate, what a great dad he'd be, he can come tuck me into bed any day, wink...

"Haven't they ever heard of surrogacy?" he mumbled, sleepily. "Or adoption, for that matter. It's none of their business, Loki. Go to sleep. C'mere, I'll help you relax."

Not for the first time and certainly not for the last, he worked Loki to a lazy orgasm and thought that was the end of it as they drifted off together.

It wasn't. Of course not.

"I actually don't like children," Loki said to Thor's utter horror on national television, breakfast TV presenters' smiles falling. "They're entitled and loud and ought to be shipped off to containment facilities until they can hold adult conversations. Of course, that means some people would never come back, but I doubt we'd miss them..."

"He's joking," Thor insisted, forcing a laugh. "Don't worry, he's just kidding. Aren't you?"

Loki looked at him square in the face and shrugged.

"Of course," he said, voice flat. "It's not their fault. They're just children. No, it's the parents who are the real problem, inflicting their mistakes on the world."

To say it hadn't gone down well was something of an understatement. And suddenly Loki was not invited to interviews anymore.

"I don't want to go without you," Thor said, trying desperately not to reignite the blazing row of a couple of days ago, with all its blame and accusations.

"Just go," Loki spat. "Go make excuses for me as always."

"You know that's not what I'm trying to do."

"It's what you have to do though."

Well, yes. What else was he supposed to do? Explain that Loki was a pile of misanthropy and cynicism held together with sarcasm and great cheekbones?

Maybe it was just a case of opposites attracting. Thor liked to be open and welcoming and Loki was closed off and liked his secrets and maybe that would have been fine if they hadn't also had this additional pressure. It had been Loki's idea and now, in his mind at least, Thor was stealing it from him.

"Maybe if you just pretended to be... nicer?" Thor tried.

"Nicer?!"

Mistake. One of many.

The book was still popular though. Thor tried to create an air of mystery about Loki, tried to paint him as a romantic recluse. Introverted. Sharp but really a sweetheart once you got to know him.

But then the fatal error. The biggest mistake.

"Would you ever consider working with another artist, Thor?"

"Yeah, I suppose I would."

On the scale of things you shouldn't say, apparently this was up there with choosing a favourite child. Arguments were had. Cruel words were thrown around. Words like "replace" and "disposable" and "worthless." No amount of Thor trying to explain that he'd meant he'd consider it in general - on a different project, in principle - seemed to help. Loki stormed out. And that was that.

That had been six years ago. Thor had moved on. Or tried to. He got a great agent, Sif, to handle all his business affairs. He wrote other books. They were illustrated by a stable of artists. He never met any of them beyond polite email introductions.

The royalties for Mo kept coming. It was vastly superior to the things he wrote by himself and he knew it. There was just... something missing. Loki had given a hint of darkness, a little frisson of danger. Just enough. In comparison, Thor knew his solo work was almost too nice. Too light. He almost didn't trust himself to tap into anything negative for fear that it would be too much.

He'd done what he always did and made Loki into a story. My Weird Ex Who I Wrote A Kids' Book With. He'd tell it at parties.

Loki was a mythical beast in his mind. A strange shapeshifter, a weirdly paradoxical figure who had honestly been quite terrible but was also the most fun and exciting and interesting person he'd ever met.

Maybe he even missed him the tiniest bit. But that was in the past.

Or so he thought.

It all changed when Sif called him on a Tuesday. She was the first and last line of defence against kids' drawings of his characters and pyjama designs needing his permission to use copyrighted materials.

"I've got Loki on line four. Yes, that Loki. I checked."

Thor almost spat a mouthful of tea across the room.

"What? Why?"

"No idea. Do you want me to put him through?"

Did he? On the one hand, no. But on the other hand, if Loki was calling him, it had to be serious...

"Yeah. Yeah, put him through."

The wait between the pause and the click was only marginally better than the wait after it.

"Hello? Loki?"

A huge, heavy sigh.

"Alright, look, you know I wouldn't be calling unless I literally had no choice, so let's just get that out of the way now."

Well, he was just as forthright as ever...

"Nice to hear from you too."

"Oh, cut the crap, Thor. Listen, you know how they've wanted to make an animated series out of Mo for years now?"

"Yeah. But, well... Never really liked the idea of it. I wouldn't want to let someone else mess with him."

_And it would mean talking to you._

"I've been talking. With a production company. They've... They've offered full creative control and a very competitive royalty rate including merchandise. And... this is embarrassing, but I really need the money. And you have no idea how mortified I am to have to call you to admit that so please don't make this any worse."

Ah. Well... if things were really that bad... He could be the bigger person here.

"Of course. If it will help you out, I'm all for it. No problem. Are you negotiating or do you want to pass the details onto my managing agent?"

A pause. A long pause.

"Is that it? Is that all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say, Loki? He's half yours. You legally own half of him. You need this to happen, you've got around my one reservation. What else is there to discuss?"

A loud huff. Apparently he'd come for a fight and was disappointed not to get it. Well, more fool him.

"Always so fucking noble. I'll send you the details when I have them. Bye."

The line went dead.

"Thank you, Thor," Thor said sarcastically. "God, I sure am glad that one of us is an adult."

"What?" Sif asked.

"Oh. Nothing. We're going to make a kids' show. Details forthcoming."

She wasn't good at hiding her surprise, but at least she didn't ask if this was really a good idea.

***

"Look at this shit," Loki spat. "Look what they're trying to do to him."

Thor had only just come through the door and there was Loki, like a ghost from his past, thrusting a piece of paper under his nose. He'd barely had time to absorb the all black outfit, the swept back hair, the frazzled looking room of people behind him.

"It's Mo," he said, eyes flicking down what was clearly concept art.

"He's wearing a tie," Loki snapped. "With little drills on it. First of all, why would he be wearing a tie while operating machinery? That's unsafe. Secondly, why the fuck would you have pictures of your tools on your tie? Office workers don't have computers on their ties. It makes no sense..."

Nothing was good enough. Nothing. But Thor couldn't help it, most of the time he agreed with Loki. This book was part of them, part of their past. They didn't want Mo turning into a one-note character, they didn't want him to have a catchphrase. They didn't want the female moles to wear pink or have long hair. In fact, the only thing they really disagreed on was that Loki basically wanted to do all the animation himself despite the fact that he didn't have the right skills and nor did the budget stretch to traditional animation.

In short, between the two of them, the production company had a nightmare on their hands.

Thor tried. He did. A ten-part first series, starting with a half-hour special following the plot of the book. Coming up with nine other little stories shouldn't have been difficult. Maybe they didn't have to rhyme. But even with that allowance, the words just wouldn't come.

He tried to think of good lessons for children. Problems they might encounter. New characters. The same things he always did when writing something new. But it was difficult.

Mo needed Loki's imput and the animation did not. That was the truth. And so that meant he'd have to talk to him. Properly. He'd have to make peace. But Loki wouldn't respond to sincerity or anything like that. At least, he never used to. So there was a need for sneakiness.

He found Loki calmly rejecting some storyboards long after the artists had gone home, head tilted to the side before grudgingly putting a tick on one of them.

"Hey," Thor said quietly, trying not to intrude. "Can you... help me with something? Writer's block, you know."

Loki didn't say anything, just kicked a chair out opposite his place at the office table. About as close as he was going to get to an invitation. Thor sat, flopping his jacket down next to him.

"I'm... I'm trying to write a story where Mo and Melinda have had a fight. And Mo is trying to carry on digging, but there's a problem with the drill and he needs Melinda to help fix it, but he's just... He's too proud to ask her for help."

Loki clearly wasn't fooled at all, but he was willing to play the game.

"What did they fight about?" he asked, still leafing through paper.

"They, uh... Well, Melinda misinterpreted something that Mo said."

"Really? Are you sure Mo didn't just insult her?"

Ah...

"No, he accidentally hurt her feelings and then she wouldn't listen to him when he tried to apologise because she never listens..."

"Well, he's always finding fault with her, even though his tunnels are really twee without her help."

"Tunnels can't be twee."

Loki finally looked up at him, nostrils flared angrily.

"Books can though. What are you getting at, Thor? Stop trying to hide."

OK, fine. Be like that.

"We need to clear the air if this is going to happen. I was never the one trying to hide. You're the one who walked out on me, I'll remind you. And sometimes... Sometimes I think you'd been planning it for a while and were just waiting for an excuse."

When Loki blushed, it was always an experience. He flushed, almost down to his neck. The very image of embarrassment. Almost glowing with it.

In another life, Thor had loved seeing Loki blush, for good reasons. Being complimented on his art. Being told how smart he was. Thor's unabashed admiration of his mind and face and body and everything. But this was horrible. He'd hit a nerve.

"What happened?" Thor asked, and then because he was feeling kind and willing to take the blame. "What did I do, really?"

Loki sighed and squirmed and hid in his hands.

"I was getting out early," he said. "Because you wanted kids and I didn't and eventually that was going to be a problem."

Thor was stunned. Shocked, even. They'd never talked about that, ever. He certainly didn't remember discussing it.

"Where the hell did you get that idea from?"

Bleary eyes, the faintest hint of tears.

"Oh, come on, Thor. You were always so good with them, doing readings and so on. And you talked about surrogates or adoption and..."

It took Thor a moment to even figure out what he was referring to.

"Are you seriously talking about a conversation we had at three in the morning? I wasn't talking about us."

"Yes, I know, that's why I destroyed 'us' as a concept."

Thor stood, almost laughing with how absurd it was, feeling the need to pace.

"Loki, I don't want kids. The fact I spend most of my life thinking about them is an accident. I don't dislike them, but that's very different to actively wanting them. I like... snakes, but that doesn't mean I could handle having one. Is that seriously what all this was about? Is that seriously why we haven't spoken in years?"

"Of course not," Loki snapped. "That was a big one, yeah, but... This was meant to be a joke. It was a dumb joke about how you can sell anything to kids. And somehow it's the most meaningful thing I've ever done. I get letters, Thor. Kids who want to become artists because of me. Fan art. People love Mo, and I don't understand why, not really, but they do. And so much of that is you. I had the idea, but you're the one who brought it to life. Do you have any idea how much that stings? Knowing that the thing I'll be remembered for is being one of a pair?"

Thor laughed. He couldn't help it.

"Of course I do. Because you're right - my solo books are twee. Super twee. Mo only worked because we wrote it together, because of the balance. And that's why I'm asking... will you help me write this series? It won't be the same without you. Help me make it work, please. We used to be so good together."

Loki pursed his lips, no doubt trying to make a joke.

"I did always like hearing you beg."

Yeah, there it was. And if that's what he wanted...

"Please, Loki. Please. I am literally begging."

More of a pause.

"You know, there is something else I've missed about you..."

He abandoned the storyboards and got up, coming round the table to meet Thor's pacing.

"Is there?" Thor asked, playing dumb. He knew that look. It haunted his most shameful dreams.

"Mm-hm... I miss the way you used to take me out of my head. Unless... I mean, unless you're seeing anyone."

Of all the things he'd expected, this hadn't been one of them.

"I... Well, no, I'm not, but are you serious right now?"

Loki shrugged and smiled and it was like half a decade just melted away suddenly. He was back in his wild youth, back when consequences were things that happened to other people. Back when Loki would just turn to him, even in company and announce "I'd like to go to bed now" and everyone knew it wasn't for sleeping...

This was a terrible idea, wasn't it?

"Come on, Thor. I'm feeling vulnerable. I've just found out that I left the best thing in my life over an imaginary problem. It's not fair for you to be all reasonable like this, you have to give me a little win too. And at the risk of sounding sappy, no one else ever did it like you. Sex is so much fucking performance. But you were always in the moment. Not just then, always."

"Couldn't live like that though," Thor said, hands automatically moving up to Loki's hips, almost amazed that they still fit there. "Some time or another, you have to think of the future. Of what happens after."

Loki placed the tip of his finger to Thor's lips.

"Shush. You hold all the cards here, remember? I'm the one who needs the series to work. It's in my interest to work with you. And I'm not asking to get back together, I'm just asking to get to know you again. Make sure the magic is still there."

"Through sex?" Thor asked, even though it made him part his lips around that finger.

"Why not? Seal the deal, as it were."

Hmm... An experiment was called for.

He caught Loki by the neck, not roughly, but firm, his other hand cupping his cheek and leant in. Would it still be the same? Would it still have that rush about it, that instant sense of warmth and comfort?

Only one way to find out...

Loki sighed against his lips, arching into him, but not yielding. He was tugging Thor closer, walking them backwards until he could hop up onto the edge of the conference table and almost drag Thor down on top of him.

"Whoa, whoa," Thor said. "Hang on. Here?"

"There's no one around," Loki sing-songed.

True, but still, Thor was uneasy, unwilling to be quite as carefree as they had been once.

"My hotel's just a taxi ride away. And I have lube there."

Loki scoffed, shoving him back.

"I knew it," he said. "You're no fun anymore. No spontaneity. That's why working together again won't work."

He knew it was just Loki needling. He knew it was just goading, just Loki trying to get what he wanted, but he was nothing if not a fool for that.

"I'll give you spontaneity," he growled, yanking off his own tie. "Hands. Now."

It had been years since they'd done anything like this. Thor had never felt particularly good at it, but knotting Loki's wrists together in front of him felt extremely familiar.

"There. Now you can't rush me."

He could, of course. Loki employed every tool he had as Thor eased him back onto the table, pouting and wriggling.

"What are you planning?" he asked, and that edge of breathlessness in his voice, God.

"I'm going to lock the door and bring down the blinds so we aren't disturbed. And then I'm going to take off these nice trousers and put them somewhere they won't get dirty. And after that... Well, wait and see."

Loki's chest heaved, eyes darkening as Thor stepped away to ensure at least a little privacy, wondering what exactly he was going to do. He didn't have anything even remotely serviceable as lubricant, so that narrowed it down. And he was pretty pent up himself, so something that allowed him to get off too would be preferable...

He tried to seem detached as he undid Loki's fly and peeled off his jeans - and why did he insist on everything being so tight? It made things so difficult. The boxers could stay for now though. He wasn't done teasing.

Even though he couldn't take it all the way off, he shoved Loki's shirt up, baring his nipples and forcing his arms above his head, limiting his movements even more.

Which didn't stop him hooking his legs around Thor's hips and trying to get some friction.

"Ah-ah," Thor said. "Patience."

He was going to take his time over this. And he had tissues in his coat. They could get a little messy.

He rubbed the heel of his hand gently over the bulge in Loki's underwear, getting a groan for it. Another thing that had sometimes haunted his subconscious. That little sound, that exhalation.

"Do you want these off?"

A positive noise. OK.

In a fit of cruelty, Thor pulled Loki's boxers only down to his knees, trapping his legs together as well.

Loki laughed, breathless.

"You dick..."

"I can stop if you want."

"Don't you dare."

Alright then.

Thor began by noting the changes. No more starving artist look. He hadn't tasted of cigarettes either. Maybe he'd quit. The angles had softened, but his muscles were firmer, more defined. His nipples were still sensitive, getting gasps of delight and beautiful squirming. But Loki seemed to like being teased.

His cock was straining and Thor had to take a second to squeeze his own in sympathy before running one finger from base to head. Gently, softly, more like tickling than actual touching.

"You look good like this," he said.

"Can I see you too?"

Well... He'd come this far. Still teasing with the tips of his fingers, Thor began unbuttoning his shirt one-handed, watching Loki's eyes where he strained to look at him, actually moaning when he stripped below the waist and let his erection stand free.

"Maybe I should have let you take me home."

"Oh, well, if you'd prefer I could get you dressed and call a cab..."

"Noooo... Maybe afterwards."

It was so good to laugh together. God, he'd missed this.

Torture for both of them, Thor took Loki right to the edge twice before easing him to his feet, letting him take both their cocks in hand, Loki's bound arms looped around his neck.

"Kiss me?" Loki whispered, like that was more intimate than what they were already doing. Maybe it was.

It muffled their moans, sighing and whimpering as Loki came first, resting his head on his arm and watching while Thor worked himself to completion.

For a few moments, they stood together like that, just breathing heavily. And then Thor felt like he woke up, slipping out of Loki's arms and untying him, scrambling for his coat and the tissues within.

"I can't believe we just did that," he said. "In a room where they make cartoons for children. God, this place is going to reek..."

Loki giggled. Flat out giggled. Like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Serve them right for inventing that stupid drill tie..."

Thor pressed his lips together, trying to think of how to word this while hurriedly getting dressed.

"I'm going to suggest something," he said carefully. "And don't bite my head off, but how about you come and help me with stories and just... let the animators work? They've got the style pretty bang on, though not as good as yours, obviously."

Sweeten the pill with a little flattery.

"They'll put him in the tie," Loki said uncertainly.

"And then they'll _make_ the tie and hundreds of children will get their mothers to buy it for their dads on Father's Day. Good old Mo, paying the bills again."

Loki gave him a sideways glance, but smiling with it, eyes bright.

"Hmm... I knew there was a reason why I loved you."

Past tense? Or was it?

"So you'll do it?" Thor asked.

A kiss on the cheek.

"Maybe Mo and Melinda can sort out their misunderstanding," he said. "Though not like this, obviously. Take me home and we can brainstorm."

Somehow Thor doubted they'd do much thinking.

Back together? Not romantically. Not yet. That would require further negotiation.

But the combination of Loki's ideas and Thor's words? Maybe there'd even be another book on the way. In time.


End file.
